Patons Rock Housing Opposed; Residents Rebuffed in Bid for District Plan Change

By KIDSON, Sally

A group of Patons Rock residents has asked the Tasman District Council to change its planning rules to protect the area’s character from further residential development.

But the council says the future of the small seaside settlement will be discussed as part of the planning work it is undertaking in western Golden Bay, and it has decided not to make any changes to development rules for now.

The Patons Rock Beach Society made its plea for changes to the district plan to the council’s environment and planning committee last week .

It wants to make a private application to change the district plan, but cannot do so until the plan is finalised once appeals are resolved in the Environment Court. This is expected to happen later this year.

The group is concerned that present rules for land bordering the settlement allow for denser residential development, and that the settlement does not have the facilities and infrastructure to cope.

Spokesman Simon Hedley told the committee that unless development rules were changed, it was likely an application for a “significant development” in the area behind the settlement, now zoned deferred residential, would be lodged with the council.

He warned that if the developer’s application was successful, it was likely to be appealed, which would cost the council financially.

The group had been working towards applying for a private plan change for four years and he estimated its work, including in-kind donations, had cost about $200,000.

Mr Hedley said the council needed overall rules for the area rather than proceeding with development on an ad hoc basis.

The society’s deputy chairman, Cliff Turley, said the group wanted to protect Golden Bay’s extraordinary natural coastal landscape.

“We are aware and we accept that development will occur but we hold that it must be appropriate.”

“A part of our motivation over a long, frustrating and often stressful time is that we are attempting to preserve an iconic environment for future generations.” Mr Turley said the group, which was formed in 2004, had about 70 members and also had widespread support in and outside Golden Bay and had raised $40,000 to initiate the private plan change.

Three applications to develop subdivisions in the deferred residential zone behind the Patons Rock settlement have been received since 1998. All three have been declined, with the most recent being for a 54-section subdivision in 2003.

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